Small Firms in Tourism (Advances in Tourism Research)

This book provides a varied collection of recent research relating to small businesses in tourism. In doing so it reflects the eclecticism of interest and method associated with this under-researched and under-theorised area of investigation. Topics range from the potential contribution of small firms to achieving social or economic goals to understanding more about business performance and growth. As is common in tourism research, disciplinary boundaries are routinely transgressed in the interests of gaining greater illumination. Insights from a variety of countries are offered, sometimes as a result of trans-national collaboration initiated specifically for this book.

[...]... predicated on an interest in policy interventions where, for example, small firms in tourism may contribute to regional competitiveness, regeneration or sustainability Other commentators are driven more by an interest in evaluating business practices with a view to informing business policy at the level of the firm These appear in the final stages of the book Small Firms in Tourism: International Perspectives... analogy used in discussing tourism small firms research in the developed North, the field of tourism small business development in the South is terra incognita (Page et al 1999) Questions concerning entrepreneurship and small firm development occupy only a relatively minor role in the volumes of writing produced on tourism in the developing countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia developing world (Gartner... for poverty elimination (Ashley et al 2000, 2001; Goodwin 1998) Business Linkages The development of business linkages between large established tourism enterprises and small, local firms through outsourcing, subcontracting or other linkage arrangements, is viewed an important means to upgrade the tourism small firm, including informal enterprise Business linkages enable small firms run by indigenous or... Shifting Policy Frameworks for Small Enterprise Development and Tourism The international body of tourism literature provides a useful foundation for interrogating tourism and small firm development (SMME) in South Africa In particular, the developing world literature highlights the many constraints faced by small firms in tourism as a result of the dominance of large enterprises in the mass tourism industry... the tourism sectors in Switzerland and the United Kingdom International Conference: Small Firms in the Tourism and Hospitality Sectors Leeds (September) Rosenfield, S A (1997) Bringing business clusters into the mainstream of economic development European Planning Studies, 5(1), 3–23 Storey, D J (1996) Understanding the small business sector London: Routledge Thomas, R (1998) Small firms and the state In: ... sub-sector and to begin the process of baseline data gathering Small Business Management and Growth The remaining chapters are all concerned with matters that relate to enhancing the performance of small firms Drawing on data gathered from more than fifty interviews in Glasgow, Scotland, and Aracaju, Brazil, Morrison & Teixeira examine factors that in uence the performance of small firms in tourism (Chapter... existing policy studies References Ateljevic, I., & Doorne, S (2000) Staying within the fence: Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(5), 378–392 Dewhurst, H., & Thomas, R (2003) Encouraging sustainable business practices in a non-regulatory environment: A case study of small tourism firms in a U.K National Park Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 11(4) Dewhurst, P., & Horobin,... policy-makers with an interest in regional development for some time, namely how International Perspectives on Small Firms in Tourism 5 to stimulate and support rural business development in tourism Komppula starts her examination by drawing attention to the contrasting aspirations of small business owners alluded to above, noting not only lifestyle motivations as a factor that potentially stifles business growth... his interest is in using notions of dependency — relating the concept to relations between countries and, in turn, small and large enterprises — to examine small business behaviour His starting point is to construct a framework of selective key issues: population growth, consumption centre development, public involvement, technology The framework is then used to organise an investigation into small tourism. .. within a review of existing relevant research on tourism, entrepreneurship and small firm development in the developing world Second, the shifting policy frameworks impacting upon tourism and especially of small enterprise development in South Africa are elaborated Finally, the major findings are presented of local research on the opportunities, constraints and support needs of the emerging black owned small . is common in tourism research, disciplinary boundaries are routinely transgressed in the interests of gaining greater illumination. The book is intended. autonomy or wishing to live in a particular area — play an important part in explaining the reason why many individuals establish small businesses in tourism.